I open my eyes slowly, finding myself in a new location. I think it's an office, due to all the desks and computers... could be a gaming cafe. I look around myself to see me and Luna laying on an old mattress, she's back to her blue self and I'm still grabbing her horn. I let go and start to get up, feeling like shit but still managing to get to my feet. As Luna starts to wake up I look around for Celestia, she has to be the one who brought us here.

"Miles... where are we?" Luna asks as she starts to get up.

"Not sure, some kind of office or internet cafe." I walk towards the front door only to have it open before I get there. Celestia walks in and looks at us for a second before she continues walking in, carrying several guns with her. Easy walks in after her and follows her over and staying close to her side. "How long were we out?" I ask as she walks past me and sets the guns down.

"About twelve hours. I tried to stay back at the house, but one of the bots blew it up...oh and Easy finally accepted your command, but he's still..."

"May I have your autograph?" Easy asks Luna. I walk over to the assortment of guns and start going through them. A couple E.A.R.s, an Smg, an Lmg.... and a fucking Aquila chain gun.

"Where did you get this?" I ask as I sit next to it and start to look it over. It's in pretty good condition, the motor needs a little work and the gems need refilling but other than that...damn.

"Easy and I have been scavenging for weapons we could use. We found these at what looked like a carriage with no wheels." I start to work on getting the motor out, using my magic to unscrew everything. "What happened to you two?"

"We were stuck in Mile's mind." Luna says as she walks over to her side. "It would seem Miles has... well... I'm not sure of how to put it..."

"I do." I say as I finally get the motor out and start fixing it. "It's just a theory, but I believe that Soul Fire is the manifestation of my soul, while Corpus is the manifestation of my magic. Each have grown to a such a point of power that they've become living entities. It's just a theory, but it's the best explanation I can make right now."

"That's just absurd." Celestia says as she lays down and looks over one of the E.A.R.'s.

"I don't think so." Luna says as she lays next to her and grabs the other E.A.R. "I mean... look at me and Nightmare Night." Celestia gives her a look before she looks back to the gun.

"What do we need to do to get these to work?" Celestia asks as she sets it in front of me. I set the chain gun down and look over the rifle.

"Just clear the barrel of debris then refill the gems." I say as I set it back in front of her and go back to the chain gun. I've got the motor fixed, kind of, I just need to reassemble it and fill the gems. When I finish loading the gun I set it aside and get to work on the SMG.

"So... how do we get out of here?" Luna asks as she sets down the rifle.

"Well, the plan is pretty simple. We make a run for the closest bulk head and leave."

"That sounds a little too simple." Luna says as she stands back up and walks over to the window, looking out at the city.

"Well, there will probably be a lot of running, bullets, explosions... not to mention you won't be using your magic that much..."

"Why can't we use our magic?" Celestia asks.

"Because when we get to a bulk head I need you two to cover me as I try to open it. I need you two to be able to stand up against howitzers and small arms fire. Hopefully I won't need to pull the panel off and rework the wiring, but if I must, I need you two to cover me." I say as I pick up an E.A.R. and walk over next to Luna. "You alright?"

"Hmm... oh yeah... just... thinking." I kneel next to her and start to show her how to work the gun.

"This is your safety, red means it’s ready to fire. Pull the trigger to fire it, and this knob makes it go from single to automatic fire." She nods to me and takes the gun with her magic. I get up and walk back to Celestia. She's looking down at the weapons, but I can tell something is bothering her. "Hey."

"Hey."

"You alright?"

"Yeah... I'm fine, let’s just get out of here already." She says as she levitates the chain gun up and starts to walk out of the room.

"Celestia." I say, getting her to stop and look back to me. I walk over to her and kneel next to the gun. "First trigger spins the barrel, the next one fires it. It only has one fire mode, so be sure to be ready to handle the recoil." She nods to me and walks over to Luna, whispering something to her.

"May I have your autograph?" Easy says as it walks over to me.

"Easy, new directives, follow my command."

"Processing... order accepted, awaiting command."

"Follow and protect against frenzied machines, priority high. "

"Follow and protect, understood, may I have your autograph?" I shake my head and pick up the SMG and hand it to Easy. He takes it and takes a readied stance with it. I pick up the remaining E.A.R. and walk over to Celestia and Luna.

“... problem. Let's just get out of here and get home." Luna says to Celestia.

"Alright, almost ready, just one last thing to do." I say as I flare my magic in one hand and put it over one of Celestia's ears.

"What are you doing?"

"Setting a sound barrier for when we open fire. Now hold still." I say as I finish one ear and work on the next one. When I finish, I walk over to Luna and start on her ears. I poke at her ears playfully, getting her to smile back at me. When I finished with her ears I go to the door and place my hand on it. I look back to the two of them before I open it up and take the lead out of the building. I swing my rifle from side to side, checking for any frenzied bots. Once cleared I motion to the others and walk out to the center of the street. I look around until I see the PCH. Given the stores around us and the streets we're on, I'm guessing we're in the northern part of Topaz. Celestia, Luna and Easy walk up beside me and form a small circle, all of us pointing outwards.

"Which way?" Luna asks.

"North." I say as I start to walk down the street, checking every building for any potential enemies. We make it down about a block before a security bot jumps out of a building and starts firing at us. I drop to the ground and return fire with the rest of the group. I can see Luna's rounds flying around the bot as Celestia strafes below and around the bot. Easy and I open fire, sending round after round into it, dropping it to the ground with a frenzy of sparks and smoke. I stand back up and look back to Celestia and Luna, both of which are looking away from me with slight blushes. "Alright, quick lesson in how to fire a gun." I say as I approach Luna. I pull on the rifle she's levitating and show her the iron sights. "This is to help you aim, line up the front with the bottom and then fire. Give it a try." I say as I motion to the downed bot. She glances at me before she lines up the rifle and fires, hitting the wall behind it.

"Shoot."

"That's alright, try again, just a little lower." She lifts the rifle up and takes aim again. She pulls the trigger and sends a round just to the right of the bot. She sighs and fires again, hitting the ground to the left. "Easy there, don't use your emotions to fire, just relax, squeeze the trigger, and hold the rifle steady." She takes a few breaths before taking aim again. She holds the rifle there for a few moments before she sends a round down, hitting the bot in the chest.

"I did it!"

"Good job, your turn Celestia, but yours is a little different." I say as I walk over to her and grab onto one of the barrels. "Start off at waist height and pull into you target. Eye where you think the rounds will go and lead into it." As I say this I pull on the barrel, pulling on it to show her what I mean. She nods to me and takes a step forward, spinning the barrels before she opens fire. A stream of red beams fly out and hit the wall behind, sending dust and debris back as she pulls the gun down, sending the beams down until they begin to pepper the bot. The bot begins to roll away as round after round hits it, until Celestia lets go of both triggers. "Good, very good." I say as she lifts the smoking barrels and blows on it. "Yeah, don't hold the trigger for too long, these things tend to heat up." She gives me a cocky smile and nods to me. I think I found a big gun’s enthusiast. "Come on, let’s get moving. I'm sure half the city knows where we are now." I say as I continue walking down the street. I look around for any more signs of the bots, but everything over here seems to be quiet. The buildings here don't seem as destroyed as the rest of the city. All of the tall apartment complexes are still intact, filled with bullet holes but still standing.

"So... Miles. What was this part of Topaz Falls?" Celestia asks as we walk down the path.

"It was mostly residential. There were a few businesses here, but nothing major."

"Why did people have such large homes?" Luna asks as she looks up at one of the buildings.

"They didn't. These apartments housed some... hundred thousand people, give or take on the number of people in the individual rooms." They look back up in amazement as we walk down the street. I look ahead to see a utility bot staggering towards us. It has massive holes in its legs and is missing both of its arms. The metal plates on its chest have been torn open, revealing its inner mechanisms. I raise my rifle at it and send a round into its chest, knocking it to the ground. I lower my rifle and look around... this is...

KA-BOOM

A shell flies over head and hits a building ahead of us, causing a massive explosion. I turn around to see a high-grade military bot aiming its massive cannon down at us, readying it next round.

"RUN!" I yell as I open fire on the bot, aiming for its arms. Celestia and Luna ignore me and open fire with me, sending rounds all over the bot, most hitting its armor and doing nothing. "DAMMIT I SAID RUN!"

"NO!" Luna yells at me from my left as she fires at the bot. "We're doing this together!" She yells over the gun fire.

"Just tell us where to shoot!" Celestia yells from my right as she sends a stream of red beams up at the bot. I take my left hand and flare my magic as I push forward, sending a beam of soul fire at the bot. The beam hits to the right of the left arm and causes a large explosion, making the bot stagger back but stays standing.

"FINE! Just aim for the red optic lens in the center, I'll deal with the rest of it." I yells back as I fire at the next arm, this one being a quad automatic twenty-millimeter cannon.

Badom badom badom badom badom

It opens fire at us, causing the ground to erupt as it strafes its fire at us. Luckily Luna raised a shield over us, blocking the bullets. I motion for them to follow me as I run towards to the building to our left. Once we make it Luna drops the shield and looks over to me.

"Why are we taking cover?" She asks.

"You'll see." I say as I lean my rifle against the wall and ready my magic. They both look to me in slight confusion but don't say anything. As silence fills the city I motion for them to creep our way down the path. They nod and start to walk down, Celestia taking lead, followed by me, Luna, then Easy. When we make it to the end of the street we all stagger as the ground shakes. I look back to see the bot standing up and aiming its good guns at us. "GET TO COVER!" I yell as I run into the street, shooting beam after beam at the bot as it fires back at me. I hit its chest, upper hip area, and the center of its guns, causing explosions that tears off its armor. I take a hit in my shoulder that makes me twist and roll onto the ground. As I hit the ground I use my good arm to slam into my chest, healing me up as the bot staggers back. I push myself back up as I finish healing and look up at the bot as it squares off and faces me, charging up its center beam. I look down to my hands and focus on the energy, trying to find how to use the dark substance.

I close my hands and create two black orbs that seem to have black wisps falling from them. Holding the energy there I feel the lines on my arms grow to my shoulders... but instead of being warm they feel cold... almost like ice. As the bot fires its red beam at me I punch forward and send a black beam at its beam. Instead of the two beams fighting over power or exploding, my beam shoots straight through the beam, cutting clean through the bot and making the edges fade away. I let go of the beam and let my arm drop, it feels numb from using the unknown magic. The bot stands there for a second before it starts to fall back. With a thunderous slam, it falls back, crushing anything beneath it.

"What was that?" Celestia asks as the three of them walk up to me. Luna levitates me my rifle, but has a worried look on her face.

"I'm not sure yet... let’s keep going." I say as I take my rifle and walk down the street towards the wall of the dome. We continue walking down the street in silence until the bulkhead comes into view a few blocks away. "There's the door, let’s hurry-"

KA-BOOM

An explosion rocks us from behind, making me fall forwards from the hit. I push myself up and turn around to see a massive crowd of utility and security bots running towards us. We all raise our weapons and open fire, causing all the bots we hit to either to stagger or fall and be trampled. The security bots start to open fire on us, but we all raise individual shields and return fire. Easy gets to Celestia's side and returns fire, using her shield as cover as it fires down at the frenzied bots.

"We need to get to the door!" I yell as I start to back pedal, getting nods from the other two as they start to walk backwards. The bots are coming at us at a tremendous speed, gaining on us at an alarming rate. When they're meters away they all run to the side and jump into the buildings, breaking window and doors as they jump to cover. "MOVE!" I yell as I drop my shield and run for the bulkhead. Celestia and Luna quickly run past me as the bots open fire from the windows. I stop and raise both my arms, bringing up a force field that domes over the three of us, the second my shield went up all the bots ceased firing at us and disappeared into the buildings.

"What now?" Celestia asks as they all walk back over to me.

"They can read my shield level and know they can't break it on their own, so they're waiting for reinforcements. We need to get moving now, it won't be long before they get that last high grade military bot here." I say as I start to jog towards the bulk head. When we reach it I pull the lever up and wait for the door the open.

I'm sorry, maintenance is needed. Please try again later.

"Fuck!"

"Alright, drop your shield and get to work on fixing it." Celestia says as she raises her shield. I drop mine and begin to remove the lever from the wall. "Uh...Miles... what’s that?" As I pull the lever from the wall I look back and drop it. Hovering about a kilometer out is an Aquila. Its roughly diamond shaped, having the front come to a flat front and the sides point out. It's all black with two red optics lenses in the front and jets of blue fire coming out the bottom and back. Most of the surface is smooth, but I can see dents and scratches from the battle all over its body. It has twin fifty cal's sticking out the front and its trade mark chain gun mounted underneath. I watch as four holes open on its sides, getting ready to fire its missiles.

"That...would be an Aquila... how strong are your shields?" Before they could answer it fires two missiles at us, causing a massive explosion that shatters Celestia's shield. I quickly bring my shield up to stop the fire from reaching us as Celestia falls to the ground. "CELESTIA!" Luna runs to her side and checks on her as a torrent of small arms fire opens on us from all sides. I look around to see security bots in the buildings all around us.

"She's alright! Just passed out.... let’s trade so you can open the door!" Luna yells over the gun fire as she raises her shield up.

"Maybe I should keep the shield up...."

"MILES! DOOR! NOW!" I drop my shield and run over to the panel, quickly checking it for malfunctions.

"I'm going to need five minutes on this!" I yell as I look back to Luna. When I look back the Aquila had opened fire with all three of its guns, sending the massive bullets into Luna's shield. She winces from the sudden increase of force but keeps her shield up. I turn back to the panel and get to work on reworking the wires. "EASY! GET OVER HERE!" I yell getting it to run over.

"How may I be of assistance?"

"Start a system reboot for this door."

"Processing.... processing.... command accepted." He says as he takes my place and gets to work fixing the wiring. I turn around and start to run towards Luna's shield.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Luna yells at me as I run past her. I flare my hands and push out to the side, making a hole in the ground appear. I jump down it and start to make a tunnel as I run forward. When I get far enough forward I push up and launch myself out to the ground, appearing in the center of the street.

I immediately bring up a small shield with my left hand and start to fire at different locations with my right. Third floor window, floor level window, roof, all receiving a blast of soul fire that causes explosions. As I fire, I spin around from building to building while keeping my shield held behind me, covering my back. I keep this up until I hear something big running towards us. I look down the street to see a high-grade military bot running towards us. It has its left arm missing and what looks like an energy buzz saw for its right. I fire at it, only to get it to jump clear over my beam and land directly over me, causing a mini terraquake that makes me fall to the ground. I raise my shield in time to catch the massive buzz saw, stopping it from tearing me to pieces. The saws cutting away at my shield, forcing the lines on me to grow faster and faster, already growing onto my chest and burning my shirt off, not to mention all of the small arms fire seems to have moved to me. The saw suddenly breaks through part of my shield, spinning mere centimeters away from my face. I close my eyes and put all of my energy into the shield, trying my best to keep it from falling apart. I see a white flash from behind my eye lids and feel the pressure from the saw end. I open my eyes and find myself in a small grey elevator, with Luna lying next to me. I look over to see Celestia laying against the wall, with the guns before her.

"Where are we?"

"Easy opened the door, so I teleported us inside... he then hit the button and ran back into the city." I try to sit up, only to get Luna to hold me down with a hoof. She leans forward and gives me a quick kiss before she lays on her side, putting her back against my side. I lay there and enjoy her comfort, wrapping my arm underneath her as I reach for her hoof and grab hold of it.

Shout out to TheTownCrier for picking Celestia's gun. Thanks for reading, and like always, Brony On!